Teenager Luke Littler beat Belgium’s Mike de Decker 8-4 in Saturday’s final to win the Australian Darts Masters in Wollongong.
The world champion saw off Australia’s Damon Heta 6-3 and world number five Stephen Bunting 7-4 on his way to the title match.
De Decker was making his debut in the world series and overcame world number one Luke Humphries – who was suffering from illness – 6-0 in the quarter-finals before a 7-4 win over Chris Dobey secured his place in the final.
World Grand Prix champion De Decker recovered from two legs down early on to level at 2-2 before Littler won six of the next eight legs to take the title.
“It felt very good,” Littler, 18, told ITV Sport. “I knew if I won the first game [against Damon Heta] it would be a long night and I am very happy.”
Littler lost in the final of this event 12 months ago, with Welshman Gerwyn Price beating him 8-1, so his latest victory was particularly sweet.
It also came in a campaign where until this moment he had struggled to make his mark in the 2025 world series.
The English youngster said: “It’s not gone to plan so far this year in the world series, but there’s plenty of opportunities to win and I’m glad I’ve got it done tonight.”
Travelling to Australia off the back of winning the World Matchplay in Blackpool, Littler avoided a major upset on the opening night as he won a final-leg decider 6-5 against Haupai Puha.
The players will now travel to Auckland next weekend for the another world series event, the New Zealand Darts Masters.
